Quotes to Note for February 17: Marijuana, Stealth Dorms and Homeless on campus

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“We have students living in apartments here [in North Campus]. It’s just that when you get a group of unrelated adults together in a super duplex, the problems multiply--you get a lot of garbage and they aren’t very good neighbors.” — Lorre Weidlich, Hyde Park Neighborhood Association steering committee co-president, speaking on the problem of “stealth dorms,” or residential houses with six or more unrelated residents, to The Daily Texan

“We’re talking about a potentially enormous change in land usage in the city without any analysis, with only qualitative affordability assessments. We have a wide variety of opinions as to what the impact of this is going to be among the people who have been talking to us here, and there’s no way of sorting that out without somebody to do an objective study.” — Bill Spelman, city councilman and professor in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, on the need for more research on legislation limiting stealth dorms in Austin

“In Texas, the fact that we rely so heavily on property and sales taxes to fund local government makes this [affordable housing] burden higher than in other places that have a state income tax to balance out revenue.” — Elizabeth Mueller, associate social work and architecture professor, speaking to the Daily Texan about the challenge of finding affordable housing in Austin

“With regard to medical marijuana, I personally believe that medical marijuana should be allowed for. I don’t know where the state is on that, as a population. Certainly as governor I think it’s important to be deferential to whether the state of Texas feels that it’s ready for that.” — Wendy Davis, speaking to the Dallas Morning News editorial board Thursday about Texas’ stance on marijuana

“It has absolutely nothing to do with whether they’re homeless or not, it has to do with whether they’re an authorized user of the facilities. The University of Texas is a very welcoming campus; we want people to come see what we’re about. But, if you’re here for foul play, we don’t want you here anymore.” — Terry McMahan, assistant chief of police, speaking to the Texan on UTPD’s policy of issuing criminal trespass warnings to persons, including homeless individuals, who are on campus without permission

“Having spent the past 14 years in administration for the U. T. System...the time has come for me to return to my lifelong love and passion for the care and treatment of patients full time. I have accepted a position at UTHSC-SA as head of Pediatric Transplant Surgery. This position, offered to me in late 2013, presents an opportunity for me to do what I trained so many years to do, and I view it as an important calling at an ideal time.”